Open letter to the board of the ABC

For the past fifty years, ABC TV has introduced Australians to an array of extraordinary local artists – from Sir Robert Helpmann to Kate Grenville, from the emerging Western Desert artists to Nick Cave. The ABC TV arts unit has taken us into our galleries, theatres and museums, sharing the country’s evolving
cultural life. In the last year alone, the unit produced over 500 stories. It has championed new artists, engaged practitioners, and built a vast record of the work of those who strive to articulate our place in the world. Where else do we turn to celebrate our great artists?

When we mourned Dame Joan Sutherland, and Margaret Olley, the ABC helped us pay tribute to their lives and work. We are deeply disturbed by ABC management’s plan to axe ABC TV’s only arts magazine program, disband the TV arts unit and divert resources to prime time, populist content in pursuit of ratings. It will diminish the ABC’s irreplaceable role as the nation’s cultural memory. And sadly, it will reflect no glory whatsoever on what was once considered the single greatest achievement of Australia’s intellectual and artistic life: the ABC itself.

Without a strong in-house unit to create and to commission arts programming, the national broadcaster will fail its charter responsibilities. And it will fail us, by not reminding us that our national character is informed and shaped by the imagination and creativity of artists.

This letter is sent to the ABC Board on behalf of the above signatories by Glenys Stradijot, Campaign Manager, Friends of the ABC (Vic). The Board is welcome to direct any queries to, and send a reply care of, Friends of the ABC (Vic), GPO Box 4065, Melbourne 3001.